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21 July 2020 COVID-19 SPECIAL REPORT THIS WEEK IN COVID FEAR & ANXIETY

“Censorship 2.0.” It was one of our Top Trends for 2019, released long before the Presstitutes and politicians launched the COVID War. And now, once again, amplifying the loss of free speech and the freedom to “Think for Yourself,” last Friday, the Google monopoly decreed they will prohibit ads on their web pages that question or doubt COVID “authoritative scientific consensus.” In the expanding world of “Censorship 2.0,” despite providing scientific evidence and factual data, those who dare question their supreme “authoritative scientific consensus” are deemed conspiracy theorists.

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In fact, for months Google also has banned what it deems phony coronavirus cures and what its medical advisors consider “medical misinformation.” According to Google’s official statement, “We are putting additional safeguards in place by expanding our harmful health claims policies for both publishers and advertisers to include dangerous content about a health crisis that contradicts scientific consensus.” Pure Hypocrisy It should be noted that in February and March, Google banned ads for face masks because official health agencies such as the Centers For Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the World Health Organization (WHO) were stating they weren’t effective. On 11 March, a Google spokesperson stated, “Out of an abundance of caution, we have decided to temporarily ban all medical face mask ads. We’re actively monitoring the situation and will continue to take action as needed to protect users.” GOVERNORS RULE, RIGHTS DON’T MATTER

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has ordered travelers arriving at New York airports from 22 states now designated on the quarantine list must complete forms with their contact information. The governor announced last Tuesday that those refusing will risk being fined up to $2,000 and be forced to appear in court and face quarantine restrictions.

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The governor specifically mentioned the policy was due to rising death rates from the virus in those states. TRENDPOST: Checking the actual records from the New York Times database, 17 states have seen an increase in death rates from the coronavirus (not 22 as stated by Governor Cuomo). But, in fact, when adding the total number of deaths vs. total population in the 17 states that saw a death rate increase since 1 June, it comes to the grand total of 47 deaths per million or 0.0047 percent. New York’s tracing and quarantine policy also has been adopted by New Jersey and Connecticut. Governor Cuomo stated, “None of this is pleasant, but we’ve gone through this before. We can’t be in a situation where we have people coming from other states… bringing the virus again. It’s that simple.” The governor’s statement came after only ten deaths from the virus were reported in the state the previous Sunday and less than 800 residents required hospitalization. This marked the lowest level since the middle of March. Governor Cuomo also announced last week that New York State will not be reopening schools because “We’re not going to use our children as guinea pigs.” TRENDPOST: Children as “guinea pigs”? According to the 9 July report published in the New England Journal of Medicine, “Children younger than 18 years of age who had Covid-19 composed only 1% of the total number of patients.” Only 11 percent of that small number required hospitalization. The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) published results of a study of children and the coronavirus taking place between March and April. The New York Times reporter writing about it concluded, “The study both reinforces the evidence that only a small percentage of children will be severely affected by the virus.” The article also confirmed that the two children who had died had significant pre-existing health issues.

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It’s ironic Governor Cuomo should state, “We’re not going to use our children as guinea pigs” since, as reported in the Trends Journal, previously, he ordered elderly COVID-19 patients to be removed from hospitals and put into nursing homes, leading to spike in deaths in those facilities. Those people were not only guinea pigs but sacrificial lambs. TRENDPOST: This past weekend, a major breaking news headline story in the U.S. was “Claremont 13-Year-Old Dies After Experiencing COVID-19 Symptoms.” With society hooked on sound bites, a Pressitute on CBS TV opened his broadcast saying, “The shocking death of a 13-year-old boy has his family fearing tonight that he might have died from COVID-19.” “Might” have died? In actuality, the young California boy had been tested for the virus on 9 July –his test came back negative. This type of reporting not only fails to be criticized as irresponsible journalism, it also has become the new ABnormal… in the U.S. and across the globe. And, one suspected COVID-19 death of a young person in a state of 40 million is big news, spreading more fear and being used as a reason for states to not reopen schools this year. TREND FORECAST: With schools locked down and students learning online, there will be movements across America for lowering school taxes, since less teachers will be required to teach online and costs to run and maintain brick and mortar schools will be eliminated. TRENDPOST: King Cuomo is exalted as Governor Hero by the mainstream media and his fans for his handling of the COVID crisis in New York State. It should be noted there have been 32,500 deaths in New York, a state with a population of 19.5 million. And now, major parts of Spain again are being locked down again because of a rise in virus cases.

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Yet, there have been no new deaths recorded in Spain over the weekend, and since the COVID War began in March, some 28,000 people of a population of 46.7 million have died of the virus. In simple math, the death rate of Spain is 0.06 percent compared to 0.15 percent in New York State. This “Fear and Hysteria” trend is global. Facts and numbers don’t count… political decisions are all that matters. Australia, as we noted last week in the Trends Journal, has closed bordering cites and locked down Melbourne, a city of five million, because of virus cases increasing. There were 428 last Friday. As we continually note, case counts that are being blasted across the media do not equal deaths. In Australia, a country of 25.5 million people, there have been the grand total of 122 virus deaths or 0.00048 percent of the population. And now, with businesses that had reopened being forced to shut back down, economic and personal hardships will continue to escalate. It should be noted that at least 5,000 Australians died of air pollution last year according to Environmental Justice Australia… a number 40 times higher than the 122 who died of the virus! Of course, absent in the coverage are the trillions of tons of chemicals and pesticides pumped into the earth, water, air, and crops causing diseases that kill tens of millions across the planet each year.

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LET THE CHIPS FALL WHERE THEY MAY

After re-locking down New York City restaurants and forbidding indoor dining, last Thursday, NY Governor Andrew Cuomo issued a new edict aimed at bars and restaurants across the state: “For each patron in a seated party, an item of food must be purchased at the same time as the purchase of the initial alcoholic beverage(s).” The governor claims this new restriction was needed to prevent large gatherings fueled with alcohol. “New Yorkers are outraged at these establishments,” he said. “We are getting thousands of complaints.” In response, an upstate New York bar, Harvey’s Irish Pub, came up with a response: Cuomo Chips. According to owner Matthew Bagely, “Cuomo Chips” allow his customers to order drinks without having to pay for a meal. Mr. Bagely commented, “I mean why not, they’re his chips, they’re his rule so he might as well get some recognition and acknowledgment for another little hurdle we have to jump through as business owners.” Doubling down on the dictatorial, made-up, unscientific, and moronic edicts, Cuomo senior hack Rich Azzopardi declared it was OK to drink alcohol with Cuomo Chips, “But you have to be seated.” Cuomo, the self-proclaimed Executive Order Chief, also announced a “Three Strikes and You’re Closed” penalty that bars and restaurants receiving three or more violations for lack of social distancing will be shut down.

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TRENDPOST: Totally absent from media coverage or from Presstitutes questioning global dictators making up rules is their order that permits the peasants of Slavelandia to sit down and eat at a restaurant without having to wear a mask (whether inside or outside), but must put one on when standing up. Not only does this lack any scientific evidence, it makes absolutely no sense that if someone has the virus and was sitting down eating, it would only spread if the person stood up. Furthermore, the idiocy of sitting outside with tables separated by six feet and/or standing in line socially distanced is equally unscientific and moronic, since the wind blows more than six feet and comes from changing directions. TRENDPOST: Not only are made up rules such as capacity limitations, servers wearing dirty mask all day, etc., depriving people of the social and culinary restaurant experience, it is destroying the restaurant business and the life’s work of millions of people. Yelp estimates that 53 percent of restaurants locked down will not reopen. PUBLISHER’S NOTE: It should be noted that on 10 June, with people in the Hamptons and Manhattan hitting the bars, Cuomo lied to the media claiming the state received 25,000 reopening violation complaints. As we reported in the 16 April Trends Journal, according to East Hampton Supervisor Peter Van Scoyoc, the town received only two calls of potential violations, and, in both cases, the people were in compliance. MORE ON DIRTY CASH TO DIGITAL TRASH

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Despite no scientific evidence – and the fact that for centuries people have been handling money and have not died from it despite virus and flu outbreaks of much greater proportions than COVID-19 – under the new ABnormal, many businesses and consumers have been living under newfound anxiety that touching bills and coins increases their chance of catching COVID. Thus, more and more businesses are banning cash transactions. This unproven fear affects many vulnerable members of society including the elderly who are uncomfortable with technology, people with no credit, and tips for workers in service industries. According to LendEDU, the common assumption that bills and coins, since they go through physical contact with so many different people, would be riskier in this pandemic is in fact wrong. Using a “germ score,” the study revealed the average score for credit and debit cards was 285 compared to an average score of 160 for dollar bills and 136 for various coins. TREND FORECAST: As central banks and governments flood systems with digital money backed by nothing and printed on nothing to pump up overvalued equity markets and sinking economies, the value of their currencies will continue to decline. For what the digital future looks like and what to expect, please see Gregory Mannarino’s new article, “THE ENGINEERED EXTINCTION OF THE USD” and Joseph Maxwell’s article “FROM DIRTY CASH TO DIGITAL TRASH” from the 24 March Trends Journal.

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VACCINE REVOLT

As Gerald Celente often mentions in his “Trends in The News” videos, Wall Street “experts” and politicians continually parrot the line that the economy will only bounce back when a COVID vaccine is available. The same is true from the political dictators running nations and states. In America, Governor Phil Murphy, the lockdown master of New Jersey, declared, “Until either a proven vaccine is in our midst… we cannot firmly enter the new normal (a.k.a. the new “ABnormal”). Same with Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, who proclaimed, “We need a vaccine, and we need to have mass quantities available.” Eric Garcetti, the mayor of Los Angeles, said to his locked-down constituents, “We won’t be completely open until we have a cure.” Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker announced, “I know that we all have a passionate desire to return to the sense of normalcy that we felt before the world knew of COVID-19. Here’s the truth… until we have a vaccine… the option of returning to normalcy does not exist.” On the global front, in South Africa, where the very poor and desperate are “guinea pig central” for vaccination testing, Oxford University’s Jenner Institute will inoculate two thousand South Africans with their experimental vaccine. “Billions of people today await a vaccine that is our best hope of ending this pandemic,” said South African President Cyril Ramaphosa.

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One of the poverty capitols of the world, in which people were taking to the streets to protest the lack of basic living standards, crime, and government corruption prior to the virus hysteria… of a population of 58 million, some 5,000 have died of the virus in South Africa or 0.008 percent. Last week, Prime Minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau, along with the leaders of seven other nations, published an article stating a vaccine is “the most powerful public health tool.” To date, there are 8,852 virus deaths in Canada with a population of nearly 38 million, of which 80 percent were from nursing homes. According to Pew Research, most Americans expect a COVID-19 vaccine within a year. Seventy-two percent said they would get vaccinated when one is available, and 27 percent said they would not get the vaccination. Responding to the growing anti-vaccination trend, Dr. Anthony Fauci referred to the anti-vaccinators as having a “general anti-science, anti-authority, anti-vaccine feeling.” Globally, the number is around 50 percent. On Friday, in a likely sign of things to come, a protest took place in Ukraine against any potential mandate forcing citizens to get a coronavirus vaccine if and when one is developed. Ukraine is not alone. Polls taken in July in Germany and the Czech revealed up to 50 percent of those responding were skeptical of getting vaccinated. Professor Heidi Larson, anthropologist and Founding Director of the Vaccine Confidence Project at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, responded earlier this month, “It’s going to be a challenge, particularly because in general, populations are more anxious about new vaccines and that's understandable. But the good news is we do have time before we, hopefully, get a vaccine, so I think that we have to use that.” TREND FORECAST: When there are reports of the vaccine’s progress, equity markets sharply rise. Moreover, Wall Street analysts and top CEOs continually state that the economy will rebound when a vaccine is approved. Thus, the mainstream media breaks down the willingness – or not – to get vaccinated for COVID-19 as a political issue, simplifying it as a fight between liberals being pro-vaccine and conservatives being anti-vaccine.

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As we analyze the trend, the pro and con vaccine camps spread far beyond those narrow political borders. Should governments mandate that all citizens must get COVID vaccinated, a resistance movement will intensify and evolve into major third party/anti-establishment movements across the globe. HEALTH “EXPERT” HYPOCRITES CAN’T BE TRUSTED

Brainwashed by media and politicians that we must believe the flacks and hacks they elevate and feature as “top experts” in the field, be it the scores of military wars they lie us into or the COVID War they launched, their hypocrisy and bias are clearly evidenced in the 11 July New York Times article “Experts Feel Torn on Dangers of Different Protests.” Indeed, the world is in danger when physicians and health officials openly reveal their scientific insights into the virus pandemic depend on their political opinions. On 30 May, 300 epidemiologists and public health officials signed a letter supporting those protesting the murder of George Floyd by a policeman in Minneapolis… despite their previous, dire warnings of the risk of the virus spreading if people gathered in large numbers at close quarters. In part, their letter stated, “As public health advocates, we do not condemn these gatherings [the Floyd protests] as risky for COVID-19 transmission. We support them as vital to the national public health.” These are the same epidemiologist hypocrites who publicly had condemned protests in Michigan, Ohio, and additional states against the shelter-in-place draconian lockdowns, claiming the mass gathering endangered public health by risking the spread of the coronavirus.

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Among those quoted in the Times is Catherine Troisi, an infectious disease epidemiologist at the University of Texas Health Science Center, who recently attended a Floyd protest in Houston. Said Ms. Troisi, “I certainly condemned the anti-lockdown protests at the time,” but “I’m not condemning the protests now, and I struggle with that. I have a hard time articulating why that is OK.” “Struggle with that”… “have a hard time articulating why that is OK”? How about because you’re an out-and-out hypocrite! Facts don’t matter; causes do. This “struggle,” i.e. the hypocrisy, was admitted as well by Mark Lurie, Professor of Epidemiology at Brown University. Professor Lurie said, “Instinctively, many of us in public health feel a strong desire to act against accumulated generations of racial injustice. But we have to be honest: A few weeks before we were criticizing protesters for arguing to open up the economy and saying that was dangerous behavior. I am still grasping with that.” Political Phony In February, the mayor of Philadelphia, James Kenny, issued this statement: “The city’s office of special events will not accept, review, process or approve applications, issue permits or enter into agreements for special events or public gatherings of 50 or more people or more on public property.” But last Wednesday, the mayor stated the ban he imposed on large public events does not apply to Black Lives Matter protests. “My decision to waive these violations is not a statement on the validity of the individual citations. Rather it is a recognition of the core concerns that caused thousands to demonstrate on the streets of Philadelphia. In waiving these notices, I recognize that those issues are vitally important, that the pain of those marching is very real, and that their message – Black Lives M atter – needs to be heard every day until systemic racism is fully eradicated from this city and nation.” TREND FORECAST: The nation, as with others, is COVID divided. Facts don’t matter. As evidenced by the pure hypocrisy of mainstream media’s so-called “public health” experts, their diagnoses are politically corrupt.

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UNMASKING THE TRUTH (PART I)

As we’ve reported in the Trends Journal, from American media-anointed “leading infectious disease expert” Dr. Anthony Fauci to the New England Journal of Medicine; to the WHO, CDC, the California Health and Human Services Agency; and others… all have noted there is limited evidence that wearing cloth face masks in public reduces disease transmission. In May, this appeared on the CDC website:

“Although mechanistic studies support the potential effect of hand hygiene of face masks, evidence from 14 randomized controlled trials of these measures did not support a substantial effect on transmission of laboratory-confirmed influenza. We similarly found limited evidence on the effectiveness of improved hygiene and environmental cleaning. We identified several major knowledge gaps requiring further research, most fundamentally an improved characterization of the modes of person-to-person transmission.”

To reach these conclusions, the CDC “conducted systematic reviews to evaluate the effectiveness of personal protective measures on influenza virus transmission, including hand hygiene, respiratory etiquette, and face masks, and a systematic review of surface and object cleaning as an environmental measure.” Bait and Switch

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On 14 July, however, the CDC published an editorial on its website reversing its prior view, calling for public mask-wearing to prevent the spread of the virus. Yet, unlike their previous findings, this time no proof was provided. Rather, the editorial noted,

“Others may think it is premature to promote community masking until research has been completed that measures the effectiveness of cloth face coverings to prevent exposure specifically to SARS-CoV-2. Laboratory studies will be difficult and costly because they require capacity to safely manage this biosafety level 3 pathogen. Any type of community-based randomized trial will be complex to deploy in the right setting (a community with active infection) at the right time (when infections are increasing) to produce actionable results quickly. In the absence of such data, it has been persuasively argued the precautionary principle be applied to promote community masking because there is little to lose and potentially much to be gained.”

Note the phrase, “In the absence of data.” Two days later, on 16 July, this appeared on the CDC website:

• CDC recommends that people wear cloth face coverings in public settings and when around people who don’t live in your household, especially when other social distancing measures are difficult to maintain.

• Cloth face coverings may help prevent people who have COVID-19 from spreading the virus to others.

• Cloth face coverings are most likely to reduce the spread of COVID-19

when they are widely used by people in public settings. We clicked on the link provided for “Emerging evidence.” Medical studies were noted, but there were no links provided to those studies. TRENDPOST: In the 23 June Trends Journal, we reported the following:

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Health advocate Peggy Hall analyzed the language in the seven research articles posted on the CDC website, which it claims supports wearing face masks. Ms. Hall first points out there are no links to the studies provided by the CDC. This raised her suspicion about the strength of the articles. When she found them online, not one clearly confirmed that wearing masks slows the spread, but, instead, they used language such as “more research is needed,” “requires further study,” “results are unclear” and “pre-symptomatic or asymptomatic transmission modes have not been definitely documented for COVID-19.”

Looking carefully at the data provided by the CDC as to why they reversed their decision on mask wearing, their basic position is that while unproven, mask wearing by the public should be mandated based on the premise, “better safe than sorry.” But is extensive mask wearing safe? As we reported in the 23 June Trends Journal, Board-certified neurosurgeon Dr. Russell Blaylock, in reviewing 17 scientific studies, found evidence that wearing a face mask for an extended period of time has shown to cause serious health problems, including:

• a drop in oxygen levels (hypoxia),

• a serious health issue called hypercapnia, the result of elevated carbon dioxide toxicity,

• re-breathing germs and viruses already in the body, raising the

concentration in lungs and nasal passages,

• headaches, vertigo, double vision, inability to concentrate, tinnitus (a ringing or buzzing in the ears), seizures, or suffocation due to displacement of air.

Yet, despite these facts, two-faced “don’t wear masks, do wear masks” Fauci says, “There has not been any indication that putting a mask on and wearing a mask for a considerable period of time has any deleterious effects on oxygen exchange or anything like that. Not at all.” The website Medical News Today sought an even-handed approach after analyzing both sides of the mask-wearing issue. While it noted no evidence that

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extensive mask wearing caused serious health issues, there were health risks, especially if the wearer didn’t consistently wash the mask after each use:

• “There is no evidence indicating that masks increase the wearer’s risk of developing pneumonia or other bacterial, viral, or fungal lung infections.

• “The WHO acknowledge that if a person wears the same mask for a long time, microorganisms may grow on the fabric.”

• “The CDC recommends that a person removes the face covering once

they return home and washes it before using it again.” Note: How many of those people wearing masks all the time are washing them every day?

Dr. Andrew Pavia, Chief of Pediatric Infectious Diseases at the University of Utah, stated on 2 April, “If [the mask] becomes wet, it becomes a good environment for the virus to persist, but does it really provide a net benefit? We really don’t know.” As for conclusive evidence that extensive mask wearing helps stop the spread, Dr. Pavia added, “Nobody knows one way or another.” TRENDPOST: Considering that wearing dirty masks can increase the risk of spreading disease, we would suggest wait staff, cooks, etc., sweating behind their masks that are rarely changed, washed, or sanitized during their work shift… are most likely more hazardous to themselves and patrons that not wearing one at all. Confusion Reigns The argument over the effectiveness of mask wearing continues, raising the level of anxiety around the U.S. For example, last June, the governor of Nebraska said any local government in his state that mandated mask wearing in official state offices and courts would not get coronavirus funding. Yet, the mayor of Orange County, FL, which includes the city of Orlando, imposed an executive order requiring everyone in his district wear a mask in public. Even in Europe, where most countries have seen a significant drop in deaths, on 15 July, France’s President Emmanuel Macron, citing what the Wall Street

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Journal referred to as a “slight pickup in the circulation of the coronavirus,” made mask wearing mandatory in all enclosed public spaces. U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson, after equivocating for months, and after one of his cabinet ministers, Michael Gove, clearly stated that wearing masks would be “good manners” but is not mandatory, nonetheless announced on 13 July that anyone in the U.K. who refused to wear a mask inside all shops and supermarkets would face a fine of £100 ($126). Again, these mandates are not based on any clear scientific evidence that mask wearing has been effective at slowing down the spread of the coronavirus. In fact, they contradict previous studies. As summarized on the website Medical News Today:

“Whether a person decides to follow public health advice and wear a mask is down to individual choice, at least in countries where wearing masks is not mandatory. This might never be a clear-cut topic, and there may be no resolution for those who prefer to consult a large body of well-conducted scientific studies to help them make their decisions.”

UNMASKING THE TRUTH (PART II)

On 1 June, the Association of American Physicians & Surgeons (AAPS) published substantial research showing the ineffectiveness of masks to meaningfully slow down the spread of COVID-19. Some of the facts presented include:

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• “While cloth masks might capture 10-30 percent of some virus droplets in the air, all of the cloth masks and materials had near zero efficiency at 0.3 µm, a particle size that easily penetrates into the lungs.”

• “N95 masks protect health care workers, but are not recommended for source control transmission.”

• “Surgical masks are better than cloth but not very efficient at preventing

emissions from infected patients.”

• “Cloth masks will be ineffective at preventing SARS-CoV-2 transmission, whether worn as source control or as personal protective equipment (PPE).”

• “Masks may confuse that message and give people a false sense of

security. If masks had been the solution in Asia, shouldn’t they have stopped the pandemic before it spread elsewhere?”

Under the sub-heading “Final Thoughts,” the AAPS posted these bullet points:

• “Surgical masks are designed to protect the patient from the doctors’ respiratory droplets. The wearer is not protected from others airborne particles.”

• “People do not wear masks properly. Most people have the mask under

the nose. The wearer does not have glasses on and the eyes are a portal of entry.”

• “The designer masks and scarves offer minimal protection – they give a false sense of security to both the wearer and those around the wearer.”

• “If you are walking alone, no mask – avoid folks – that is common sense.”

• “Remember – children under 2 should not wear masks – accidental suffocation and difficulty breathing in some.”

• “If wearing a mask makes people go out and get Vitamin D – go for it. In

the 1918 flu pandemic people who went outside did better. Early reports are showing people with COVID-19 with low Vitamin D do worse than those with normal levels. Perhaps that is why shut-ins do so poorly.”

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More Unproven Effectiveness The New England Journal of Medicine article “Universal Masking in Hospitals in the COVID-19 Era,” published on 21 May, stated,

“We know that wearing a mask outside health care facilities offers little, if any, protection from infection. Public health authorities define a significant exposure to Covid-19 as face-to-face contact within 6 feet with a patient with symptomatic Covid-19 that is sustained for at least a few minutes (and some say more than 10 minutes or even 30 minutes).

The chance of catching Covid-19 from a passing interaction in a public space is therefore minimal. In many cases, the desire for widespread masking is a reflexive reaction to anxiety over the pandemic.”

A 2015 study led by Raina MacIntyre, a Professor at the School of Public Health and Community Medicine at the University of New South Wales, showed aerosol particles penetrated almost 97 percent of cloth masks. Reported in the study, titled, “A cluster randomised trial of cloth masks compared with medical masks in healthcare workers”:

“This study is the first random control trial (RCT) of cloth masks, and the results caution against the use of cloth masks. This is an important finding to inform occupational health and safety. Moisture retention, reuse of cloth masks and poor filtration may result in increased risk of infection. Further research is needed to inform the widespread use of cloth masks globally. However, as a precautionary measure, cloth masks should not be recommended for HCWs, particularly in high-risk situations, and guidelines need to be updated.”

TREND FORECAST: Just as the media and polling agencies characterize getting a COVID vaccine as a political issue, so, too, they have labeled mask wearing as a pro or con political divide. As we have previously noted, it is more an issue of Fear vs. Facts. Again, as documented in the Trends Journal, the media, led by CNN, has used the COVID War to boost its ratings by spreading fear and hysteria. Thus, an uninformed majority who swallow sound bites and are ignorant of the facts are predominantly pro-mask.

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These issues will be instrumental elements in the formation of new anti-establishment political parties that will grow stronger as economies deeply decline. COVID WAR: FEAR SELLS

Fear sells, particularly the fear of war. Go back to your February and March Trends Journals. In those issues, we reported how Presstitutes and politicians began selling the coronavirus as the “COVID War.” The louder the war drums beat, the more obediently the masses followed their leaders… as they continue to do. Go back to the 9/11 “War on Terror.” This war had Americans tying yellow ribbons on everything that didn’t move to waving the red, white, and blue on flag poles to car antennas… the nation proudly launched the Afghan War to get Osama Bin Laden “dead or alive” and wipe out terrorist cells ready to again strike the homeland. Nearly two decades later, the war still rages and there have been no terror attacks since 9/11. The fear of war sold by lowlife Presstitutes and murderous Presidents that Iraq’s Saddam Hussein had WMDs and ties to Al Qaeda, which killed over a million

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Iraqi’s, was championed by most Americans… and the unfortunate troops who died and whose lives have been ruined. American troops still fight and occupy Iraq. There have been no terror strikes in the U.S. from Al Qaeda. Selling fear that Bashar Assad of Syria and Muammar Gaddafi of Libya “have to go”… to wipe out evil-doers and terror cells from “sea to shining sea” and to the shores of Tripoli, have destroyed their countries and killed several hundred thousand innocent civilians and displaced millions. Now, it’s the “COVID War” Around the world, the masses, as they have done over the centuries, blindly and subserviently follow their leaders. Who is getting killed by the COVID War that has little children and adults fearful, masked-up, and locked down? Again, virtually absent in the mainstream media and dismissed by the loyal war followers when cited is the fact that across the globe, some 50 percent of the virus victims were elderly from nursing homes and those suffering from pre-existing chronic conditions. Additionally, there is barely a mention in the mainstream media and from politicians that the COVID killer takes out people suffering from obesity and Type 2 diabetes. Reports from WebMD that, “People who are obese are one of the groups at the highest risk of the disease regardless of their age,” are not mainstream newsworthy. WebMD also notes, “During the 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic, there was a strong link between obesity and bad outcomes for patients” and “People with obesity were at a higher risk of dying during flu pandemics in the 1950s and 1960s too.” Each day, the media blares the amount of new cases without mention that some 99.36 percent or more of those infected with the virus recover after having just slight symptoms.

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Absent is the line the Associated Press used to report when covering the COVID Hysteria: “For most people, the coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms. For some, it can cause severe illness such as pneumonia, or even death.” TREND FORECAST: Just as the United States and its allies have not won a war since World War II, they will also lose the COVID War. The financial cost and personal devastation will be irreconcilable. The “Greatest Depression” has begun. The socioeconomic and geopolitical fallout will incite civil and regional wars. ECONOMIC TREND UPDATES U.S. ECONOMIC OVERVIEW

As we note in this and other Trends Journals, equity markets keep spiking with each new report of a new COVID vaccine. The Dow rose four consecutive days last week, in part floating on the hope that a COVID virus vaccine from pharma giant Moderna is near. They will begin human trials later this month. The same today. Markets across the globe went up on the news that the joint venture of Pfizer and BioNTech reported positive data on their coronavirus

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vaccine and that Oxford University and AstraZeneca also showed a positive immune response in an early trial. Money Drugs Of course, the primary primer of the equity markets is the countless trillions of monetary methadone central banks and governments are pumping into equity markets and economies to keep them from crashing. Today, EU leaders announced a landmark €750bn COVID recovery deal of which €390bn of grants go to economically weakened member states, and which also allows the European Commission to undertake unprecedented massive borrowing on the capital markets. In the States today, word from Washington is a new coronavirus relief bill will likely be passed next month. TREND FORECAST: As we have precisely forecast, gold and silver prices are sharply rising as currencies lose value, particularly the U.S. dollar, which hit a four month low today. For more on where the dollar is heading, Gregory Mannarino’s article “THE ENGINEERED EXTINCTION OF THE USD” will put us ahead of the news and on top of the this trend. As the dollar went lower today, gold hit a nine-year peak, surging $21.70 to close at $1,841.50. Silver closed at $21.44, its highest close since September 2016. Therefore, we maintain our forecast that gold will spike above $2,000 per ounce. And when gold breaks strongly breaks above the $2,000 market, silver prices will rise much higher and at a greater percentage increase than gold. TREND FORECAST: As we have been reporting, the U.S. Federal Reserve has pumped some $10 trillion of monetary methadone into the Wall Street money junkies so they can hit new highs. And now, with more money pumping from Washington, the deficit is on trend to hit above $4 trillion this year.

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Indeed, minus wild card events, such as war or a feared “second wave” of the coronavirus (real or hyped by politicians and Presstitutes), the U.S. and European economies will be artificially propped up by the unprecedented money pumping schemes. However, the more money being artificially injected into the system, the lower the value of the dollar and the higher inflation will rise… which will prove bullish for precious metals. TREND FORECAST: Especially now, when vaccines have become controversial, there will be a significant segment of people who will refuse to be vaccinated against the COVID virus. Governments will limit the rights of those who refuse, with such measures as barring the non-vaccinated from air travel, schools, public events, and places unless they go through special tests and procedures before entering. And, as we noted in this and other Trends Journal issues, the anti-vaccination movement will be part of a political platform that will help spur new third party movements in many nations. TREND FORECAST: Today, on the news from the U.S. and E.U. of new massive money pumping deals to inflate sinking economies. Brent crude rose 70 cents to close at $43.98. West Texas Intermediate went up 95 cents to close at $41.76. Oil industry analysts see benchmark Brent crude priced at $45 to $50 a barrel by the end of this year, which is not a high enough price to bring most U.S. shale producers back to profitability, especially now that OPEC countries are planning to increase production again. That price rise also will not be enough to buoy the economies of many oil-producing nations, rich and poor, which were in economic trouble before the global economic shutdown took hold. With tensions building in the Middle East and Venezuela and protests heating up in poor oil-rich nations, should they escalate into regional and/or civil wars, oil prices will spike. Should they move above $80 a barrel, it will put strong downward pressure on the artificially propped up global economies.

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Key countries to watch: Iran, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, and Venezuela. FEDERAL OFFICIALS SEE “CHOPPY” ECONOMIC FUTURE

This year already has seen investment-grade debt lose $800 billion in value and corporations default on loans worth $55 billion – a faster slide than during the Great Recession and “a wave of insolvencies is possible,” said Lail Brainard, one of the U.S. Federal Reserve’s five governors, in a speech last week. She advocated making the Fed’s credit facilities as widely available as possible to keep companies solvent and workers employed. “The state of the economy begins and ends right now” with whether the COVID virus is controlled and a vaccine is developed, said Patrick Harker, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, on 15 July. The shape of the recovery is not a U, he added, but “a swoosh written with a very shaky hand.” He expects the recovery to be “choppy” and unemployment to hover above 10 percent for the rest of the year. He also expects the Fed’s policies of ready cash for markets and near-zero interest rates will not change. Citing businesses and unemployed people burning through working capital and savings, cities using up their rainy-day funds, and governments plunging into debt to rescue the economy, Sean Casten, a member of Congress from the Chicago suburbs, warned the current “massive economic downturn” will bring a political “reckoning” for officials who failed to help those in need.

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The Fed has been lavishing trillions of dollars on megabanks and corporations since last September but has done little to help struggling individuals, noted Pam Martens and Russ Martens of Wall Street on Parade on 15 July. “We have to wonder if the CARES Act fiscal stimulus was just another way to ‘foam the runways’ for banks so they don’t have to deal with too many foreclosures hitting them at one time,” they wrote. TREND FORECAST: As we have made clear with the facts, the economy is being artificially propped up, and those who know the reality and have the courage to speak the truth are now suggesting, in part, what we had forecast when politicians began shutting down the economy: “The Greatest Depression Has Begun.” RESURGENT VIRUS ROILS ECONOMIC OUTLOOK

The media’s constant refrain of rising COVID virus cases, even as the death rate declines, has thwarted investors and government officials’ expectations that the U.S. economy would bounce back strongly in 2020’s second half. With “must wear mask” rules being enforced in scores of states, the hopes of businesses… retail, hospitality, restaurants – throwing open their doors and consumers spending freely has diminished. Jared Kushner, Donald Trump’s son-in-law and general factotum, famously said the U.S. economy would be “rocking in July.” Administration officials continue to insist the economy will rebound strongly in the second half of the year. And King Cuomo, America’s beloved New York Governor, who’s state has by far the highest COVID-19 deaths (thanks in part to his forcing virus-infected elderly

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out of hospitals and into nursing homes), predicted in June, “You want to talk about a turnaround – this one, my friends, is going to go in the history books.” More accurately, the “fiction books.” Since that time, Cuomo has re-locked down business segments in New York City and imposed strict quarantine rules on visitors from 31 states. New Jersey and Connecticut have also imposed the 31-state quarantine regulations. A 15 July survey revealed an additional 1.3 million Americans out of work than in the week before. Business activity also declined in mid-July, according to Safegraph, a bussiness data firm. Amazon has extended its work-at-home order for eligible employees from October through the end of the year. Delta Airlines shrank its original plan for fall flights, and major banks have increased their pool of money to cover loans that go bad. Broadway theaters will remain dark for the rest of the year, restaurants allowed to serve guests outdoors are bracing for cold weather, and concerts and sports games are on hold indefinitely. The $600 weekly federal unemployment benefit has propped up consumer spending, analysts say, but that will expire at the end of this month. Other federal business support programs are winding down as an estimated 18 million U.S. workers are still jobless and the economy remains partially shut down. But, as reported today, the free money pumping scheme is set in motion to resume next month. The business shutdowns show no signs of easing anytime soon. “Our assumption is that we’re going into re-lockdown in the fall,” said Karl Smith, vice-president of the Tax Foundation in Washington, D.C. TREND FORECAST: Regardless of government stimulus, the commercial residential sectors will experience declines as businesses without customers and workers without jobs close down and move out, permanently limiting career

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paths for millions and transforming industries such as airlines, retail, restaurants, and the hospitality sectors. TREND FORECAST: Barely mentioned in the mainstream media is the extensive loss of tax revenue nations, states, and cities will incur as millions of businesses go out of business and tens of millions of citizens lose their jobs. To offset the losses, politicians will raise taxes in any feasible manner they can dream of, which in turn will spark tax protests and add another platform to newly emerging, anti-establishment political parties. SMALL BUSINESSES GIVE UP

Many small businesses were beginning to reopen as shutdown orders began to lift last month. Now, as the pandemic gains new strength and lockdowns are being reimposed, a number of those businesses which had restocked merchandise and invested in protective equipment for workers and customers are shutting down for good. “I can’t keep doing this,” said a Texas karaoke club owner who has walked away. In the last half of June, businesses were giving up at a faster rate than during the previous three months, according to review website Yelp. Almost 66,000 small businesses have closed for good since lockdown orders were imposed, Yelp reported, with business closings during the last half of June making up 14 percent of all closures since March.

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The total number of small businesses that have permanently closed may be closer to 110,000, according Harvard University researchers who analyzed data from Alignable, a social media site for small business owners. Some business owners find it too difficult to stay abreast of changing, and sometimes conflicting, state and local mandates while others are unwilling to risk liability or their own health. FED USES CONSUMER LOAN PROGRAM TO PROP UP BANKS

The U.S. Federal Reserve set up the Term Asset-Backed Securities Loan Facility (TALF) last March to enable low-interest “student loans, auto loans, credit card loans… and certain other assets.” TALF sells bundles of loans to investors at low interest rates, which are passed on to the businesses and individuals who took out the loans. So far, TALF has focused on those “other assets.” The Fed’s 13 July list of bundled loans showed a few bundles based on small-business loans and one that put together a package of student loans. But most of TALF’s $252 million to date had been invested in bundles of commercial real estate mortgages, most issued by JPMorgan Chase and Citigroup, with some dating back to 2013. TALF’s purpose, the Fed stated, is to “help meet the credit needs of consumers and businesses by facilitating the issuance of asset-backed securities.”

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“It’s pretty tough to find a connection between the consumer and commercial real estate mortgages on hotels, shopping malls and office buildings,” noted Pam Martens and Russ Martens in Wall Street on Parade. They added, “Saving old investments that have already been issued does nothing to help new issuance, unless one considers the Fed distorting the market to be a help.” More than $82 million of TALF money has made its way to BlackRock, the world’s largest asset management company, which used the loan to buy four packages of commercial mortgages. PUBLISHER’S NOTE: The current program is TALF II. The original TALF bailed out Wall Street banks from 2007 through 2010 during the Great Recession. Despite the Fed’s statement to the contrary, the program’s new incarnation seems to have kept the same mission as the original: to bail out the “too big to fail” big banks while individuals and small businesses are left to fend for themselves. BIG BANKS BRACE FOR $28 BILLION IN BAD LOANS

Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, and Wells Fargo have expanded to $28 billion their pool of cash to cover loans that may begin to go bad as $600 weekly federal unemployment benefits run out at the end of this month. The banks said the projected value of loans expected to fail is greater now than was expected at the end of the year’s first quarter. The banks took the funds from their second-quarter profits.

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Citigroup put aside $7.9 billion, about 73 percent of its quarterly profit. JPMorgan set aside $10.5 billion, halving its profit for the period. Wells Fargo reserved $9.6 billion and recorded its first quarterly loss in more than a decade. JPMorgan said it raised its reserve because it now expects the economy to recover more slowly than previously thought and unemployment to remain in double digits for another 12 months or more. Also, corporate, student, and consumer debt were at record levels before the economy stalled and tens of millions of people lost their jobs. The economy is unlikely to recover “until a vaccine is available,” said Michael Corbat, Citigroup CEO. “The banks don’t see a rapid recovery over the next six months,” agreed Harvard University economist Gabriel Reich. “They see a protracted recession.” SIGNS OF BULL MARKET FATIGUE?

During the week of 7 July, investors pulled $491 million out of ProShares UltraPro OOO, an exchange-traded fund that invests in surging tech stocks. The weekly outflow was the largest since the fund’s founding in 2010. Despite the outflow, the fund ended the week with a record $7.1 billion in assets, due in part to strong gains by Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, and Tesla. During the same week, the same company’s fund that “shorts” the market, or bets on stock prices falling, took in $261 million in new investments.

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“We expect the unemployment rate to remain elevated for years,” Capital Economics wrote in a note. Analysts speculated that investors might see the GDP’s growth as fueled by federal bailout funds that may not be sustained. “There are few signs of an organic recovery being in place which would ultimately promise a boost to risky assets as demand recovers,” said economists at the Netherlands’ Rabobank. TRENDPOST: More new investors shorting the market than going long, even in a single sector, is a red flag that the bull market is on shaky ground. Overvalued equity markets should have crashed long ago as economies were locked down. However, since central banks and governments are making up “schemes undreamed of” to artificially prop up failing economies, it is impossible to accurately predict when equities will crash. It is most important to note that keeping equity markets from crashing is a primary initiative of governments since an uniformed, sound-bite-news public, which have no in-depth knowledge of the real socioeconomic or geopolitical world, will come to realize the extent of economic destruction only when the headlines read: MARKETS CRASH. DOLLAR CONTINUES TO WEAKEN

Political and public health uncertainties, the U.S. Federal Reserves’ interest rate cuts, and recovering economies abroad while America’s remains hobbled are likely to continue to weaken the dollar, analysts say, making American goods cheaper overseas.

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The dollar’s value slipped 0.4 percent in June and another 0.7 percent this month against a collection of six other major currencies. The dollar’s value has dropped 6 percent from its mid-March peak, when foreign banks and investors were flocking to the dollar as a safe haven for value. Now foreign banks are cashing out of dollars as economies in Europe begin to revive and the COVID virus rampages across the U.S. Recent data shows foreign banks holding $153 billion in loans from the U.S. Federal Reserve, compared to $449 billion on 27 May. “The U.S. simply faces more risks than any other major economy at this point,” said Shahab Jalinoos, foreign exchange strategist at Credit Suisse. TREND FORECAST: Again, and again, and again, the lower the dollar falls, the world’s safe-haven currency, the higher gold and silver prices will rise. Trends are born, they grow, mature, reach old age, and die. The “2020 Dollar Dive” has just been born. DIGITAL PUBLISHERS ON THE EDGE

BuzzFeed, the news website, was poised to make its first profit, about $30 million, this year, after 14 years online. Group Nine, owner of The Dodo and Thrillist sites, was due for black ink after four years in the red. Then the global lockdown struck. Conventional newspapers and magazines with paid subscribers were already in steep decline as advertisers switched to the digital world.

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With advertising being one of the first expenses business cut, when the economy shut down, websites are now suffering a significant loss of income. Online ad sales overall are forecast to decline 19 to 23 percent this year. In response, BuzzFeed shed 70 workers and Group Nine let go 7 percent of its staff. Leading news and lifestyle website Vice has furloughed 150 employees; Vox Media, 100; and Quartz, an economic news site, 80. The Outline, a lifestyle feature site, has folded. To survive, companies are having to diversify. Vice produced television shows for Amazon, HBO, Netflix, and Showtime. BuzzFeed opened a toy store in New York City and sold cookware through Walmart as it tested a paid membership plan. “They thought they had time to develop these other streams” of income, said analyst Ken Doctor at Newsonomics. “Now they ran out of time.” Weaker publishers will close down or be taken over, predicted Nancy Dubuc, Vice’s CEO, adding that publishers also may form alliances to negotiate better deals with advertisers. TRENDOST: Different names, same game. Unlike the Trends Journal, with its “Think for Yourself” motto, and, as political atheists, supporting only scientific facts and hard data, most publishers of digital and hard copy are agenda driven… they only provide socioeconomic, political and/or politically correct content that conforms to their bias. SIRIUS TO BUY STITCHER

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Internet radio broadcaster Sirius XM Holdings will buy Stitcher, a leading podcast depot, for $265 million in cash. Sirius has said it could add as much as $65 million to the price if Stitcher reaches certain financial targets in 2020 and 2021. Other media companies, including Spotify Technology and iHeartMedia, are strengthening their presence in the podcast industry. TRENDPOST: As more businesses lose revenue and go down, the Bigs will get bigger as they gobble up competition in their sectors and expand into others. Thus, competition will lessen as will the variety of products and services. ECONOMIC REBOUND?

After posting a record 18-percent month-to-month jump in May, U.S. retail sales added another 7.5 percent gain in June. The size of June’s increase surprised analysts, who had expected a 5-percent bump. Low interest rates have enticed buyers with secure jobs and higher incomes to purchase homes, cars, and other big-ticket items during the economic shutdown. New home sales shot up 16.6 percent in May, reaching close to pre-pandemic levels. Sales of luxury homes led the market. Purchases of existing homes dropped during the month, but analysts see signs that sales rebounded somewhat in June.

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In the week ending 5 July, new car sales neared volumes forecast for the period before shutdowns were mandated. Incentives such as Subaru’s offer of 0.9 percent interest for 60 months on its Crosstrek also sealed deals with many buyers. However, big-ticket durable goods account for only 7 percent of the U.S. economy. The service sector makes up a much larger share, where consumers increased spending by just 5.4 percent in June. TRENDPOST: Restoring the service sector, where most low-income Americans work, will be key to driving a sustained economic recovery, which, as with the other sectors, will be artificially boosted by unprecedented money pumping by central banks and governments. CALIFORNIA: THE REOPENING THAT WASN’T

After an initial rush of pent-up consumer spending last month as the state’s lockdown order eased, California businesses are losing the hope the initial surge brought. Capacity restrictions and distancing requirements often do not allow enough trade to cover costs. Stringent requirements around cleaning protocols and strict, often conflicting, rules imposed by various state and local government agencies also impinge on businesses’ operations.

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Additionally, business owners fear liability suits from customers as well as endangering their health and that of their workers. On 13 July, governor Gavin Newsom reimposed shutdowns on bars, gyms, indoor dining in restaurants, and other locales where people congregate closely without adequate personal protective equipment. The new order was effective instantly, giving business owners no time to prepare or to find creative ways to keep serving customers. Many of the locations suffering under the new shutdown had reopened less than a month earlier. If the length of the shutdown had been specified, “we could put our heads down and forage,” said the owner of a now-defunct Los Angeles nail salon. “But we’re looking at two or three years before getting back to full capacity.” TRENDPOST: Beyond California, states, cities, and countries around the world are re-locking down economies, destroying businesses, and putting people out of work. For example, in Australia, with a population of 25.5 million and the grand total of 126 deaths or 0.00049 percent of the population… there are now re-lockdowns. The New South Wales state implemented restrictions on what the dictators-in-charge declared “high-risk activities” such as weddings and going to restaurants, cafés, and bars. Premier Gladys Berejiklin declared, “We absolutely need everybody seated when they are in a venue. No dancing, no singing, no mingling.” Victoria’s Premier Daniel Daniel Andrews mourned the three latest COVID-19 deaths – a man in his 70s and man and woman in their 80s. We note this since, as we long have been reporting, in Italy, for example the average age of virus deaths was 80 years old. In the U.S., 70 to 80 percent of the virus victims were elderly citizens, some 50 percent from nursing homes, suffering from compromised immune systems and chronic pre-existing health conditions. It’s the same across the world.

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Yet, entire nations are shut down and tens of millions business and hundreds of millions of lives are being destroyed. CONSUMER PRICES JUMP IN JUNE

The U.S. Labor Department’s Consumer Price Index rose 0.6 percent in June after falling sharply during the previous three months. Prices were pushed up by demand for a range of goods as stores reopened and consumers restocked basic items, replaced worn-out goods, and indulged in discretionary spending that had been postponed. Gasoline prices rose 12.3 percent during the month, accounting for more than half of the price index’s jump. The cost of groceries grew 0.7 percent and restaurant meals 0.5 percent. TRENDPOST: The price gains implied a return of inflation, but most analysts believe any inflationary pressures will be eased by the ongoing lockdowns and consumer cautions as the lockdown effects linger and unemployment remains high. Again, we forecast Draglflation: Prices will go lower as supply greatly outstrips demand. However, it will cost more to buy products as the value of the dollar declines and take more dollars (as well as other currencies) to buy products. Of course, as currencies lose value, safe monetary assets, such as gold and silver, will be in greater demand, thus driving their prices higher.

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EUROPEANS HIT THE HIGH STREET

The Eurozone’s retail sales soared 17.8 percent in May from April as consumers began to emerge from stringent lockdowns. Clothing, electronics, and furniture were high on shopping lists, especially in France and Germany, where consumer spending rose to about 93 percent of pre-pandemic levels. In previous economic reversals, business spending led recoveries. But European analysts are counting on consumers, who account for more than half of Europe’s economic activity, to spearhead this recovery because capital spending remains constrained by high corporate debt and months of lost sales. Consumers are able to spend somewhat freely because of government schemes, such as those in France and Germany, that subsidize payrolls so millions of workers have continued to collect most of their salaries and be eligible for fringe benefits. TRENDPOST: As we have continually noted, rises in sales are from pent up demand after being locked down and artificially propped up with government-subsidized recovery injections. When the fake money dries up, the economies will go much further down.

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GLOBAL BUSINESSES GOING DOWN & OUT

GOODBYE, SMALL BUSINESSES. More than 110,000 U.S. small businesses closed for good during the first weeks of the U.S. economic shutdown, according to an April study by the National Bureau of Economic Research. The survey, made as the shutdown’s full force was beginning to be felt, also found that:

• 43 percent of businesses were at least temporarily closed; • businesses surveyed had cut their workforces by an average of 40 percent; • the typical small business had more than $10,000 in fixed monthly costs

and less than one month’s cash on hand; • many businesses seeking CARES funding and PPP loans experienced

major difficulties in applying.

Small businesses already were on the edge before the shutdown was mandated. In September 2019, JPMorgan Chase reported that:

• 29 percent of small businesses overall were not profitable; • 47 percent had cash to survive only two weeks or less.

Before the pandemic, small businesses supported 44 percent of the American economy and employed 20 percent of the U.S. workforce, according to the U.S. Small Business Administration. “We are seeing a complete wipeout of a cohort of entrepreneurs and young firms,” John Lettieri, cofounder of the Economic Innovation Group, a Washington

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research firm, told The Atlantic magazine, “and there’s nothing coming up behind them.” REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT CRASHES. Investments in real estate during 2020’s first half fell 45 percent year-on-year throughout the Asia-Pacific region; 36 percent in the Americas; and 19 percent in Africa, Europe, and the Middle East, according to Savills, a London-based brokerage. Investments probably will “remain well below pre-pandemic levels for the rest of 2020 as investors wait for market clarity,” said Simon Hope, Savills head of global capital markets. END OF THE URBAN RENAISSANCE? For two decades, cities have been the places where young professionals congregated and social innovation flourished. Now three factors may doom the urban renaissance:

• the fear of viruses spreading rampantly among densely packed populations;

• social unrest and disruption sparked by seemingly intractable police excesses;

• cities’ budgets, crushed by the costs of the pandemic and economic shutdowns, may take decades to return to pre-pandemic spending levels and address rising problems such as housing affordability and homelessness.

Analysts predict that cities will remain magnets for talent and energy but more of urban areas’ dynamism will migrate from city centers to outlying areas. CALIFORNIA RESOURCES GOES BANKRUPT. The state’s biggest oil and gas producer has filed for Chapter 11 protection, citing the global oil glut and the economic shutdown’s impact on demand. The company was spun out of giant Occidental Petroleum in 2014 with “a balance sheet designed for $100 oil,” said Raymond James analyst Pavel Molchanov. But soon after the spin-off, oil prices began to slump and the company has been struggling to avoid bankruptcy since then. California Resources’ other major U.S. producers, Chesapeake Energy, Extraction Oil and Gas, and Whiting Petroleum will go bust in the shutdown. Eighteen smaller producers also have declared bankruptcy, with analysts expecting more to follow.

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MALL OWNER MISSES MORTGAGE PAYMENTS. Triple Five Group has missed the last two payments on the $16-billion mortgage for its three-million-square-foot Mall of America in Minnesota and is negotiating for easier terms, according to Trepp, a real estate data firm. The company also owns the $5.7-billion American Dream mall in New Jersey, which holds an artificial ski slope and theme park with a water park on the grounds. The center, which began opening last October and was shut down by state lockdown orders in March, is at least $2.8 billion in debt. Some of the malls’ tenants have gone bankrupt during the shutdown, leaving empty storefronts. The Mall of America reopened on 10 June. The American Dream mall remains closed. BRUIN E&P FILES CHAPTER 11 BANKRUPTCY. The Houston-based oil producer, which has focused on shale reserves in North Dakota’s Williston Basin, came to bankruptcy court on 17 July with a plan that gives nearly all of the company’s equity to its senior lenders. The deal, approved by two-thirds of Bruin’s creditors and shareholders, will wipe out $840 million of the company’s $1.1-billion debt. BRITISH FASHION INDUSTRY HEMMORAGES JOBS. The British fashion industry will lose about 240,000 jobs, or 27 percent of its 890,000-strong workforce, by 2022 because of the global economic shutdown, the British Fashion Council predicted. About 80 percent of the vanishing jobs are expected to be in retail. Knock-on losses through the supply chain could raise the total to 350,000, or about 1 percent of the U.K.’s workforce. The sector’s revenues are forecast to drop from last year’s £118 billion to £88 billion in 2020, with the industry’s GDP falling from £35 billion to £26.2 billion. The shutdown has kept workers home, where “office attire” is t-shirts and cargo shorts and canceled weddings and other events that usually require new clothes. As a result, the shutdown has hit the clothing industry “twice as hard” as the U.K.’s economy in general and erased a decade’s worth of the industry’s revenue growth, the council said.

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Burberry, Britain’s largest fashion brand, announced 500 job cuts on 1 July; Mulberry, the 50-year-old handbag company, is cutting 400 spots. Retailers Harrod’s, John Lewis, and Topshop also have begun cutting hundreds of jobs. PEPSI SALES DOWN, SNACKS UP. Stronger sales of Frito-Lay and Quaker Oats brand snacks offset a drop in soda sales for PepsiCo Inc. during the second quarter. Pepsi’s pop sales fell as restaurants remained closed and people made fewer trips to convenience stores. However, people locked down at home stocked up on familiar comfort snacks, such as Cheetos, Doritos, and Tostitos. PepsiCo’s revenue fell 3.1 percent year-on-year to $15.95 billion in the second quarter. Net income was $1.65 billion, compared to $2.04 billion last year but still outperformed analysts’ expectations. TRAVEL AND TOURISM: CRASHING

BUSINESS TRAVEL FACES LONG RECOVERY. Business travel, a key revenue source for airlines and hotels, could take three years or more to achieve a stable recovery, industry analysts now say, far longer than originally predicted. Airlines might not recover for seven years, said Michael Derchin, an analyst at Imperial Capital.

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Before the pandemic, business travelers occupied about 10 percent of airline seats but accounted for half of major airlines’ revenues and as much as 75 percent of their profits, according to industry estimates. Business travelers also generated up to 70 percent of the Hilton and Marriott hotel chains’ revenues, said Robin Farley, a UBS analyst. But now, the global shutdown has permanently altered travel plans for many companies. Of more than 300 businesses surveyed in May by BCG Henderson Institute, 200 said they would permanently change their employee travel policies. Business travel also is being stymied by:

• varying local rules and strictures governing public behavior; • corporate fears of being sued by employees sent on business trips who

then contract the COVID virus; • U.S. cities and states, and European countries which require people

arriving from elsewhere to quarantine for 14 days.

DELTA REPORTS LOSS, CUTS PLANNED FLIGHTS. Delta Airlines, which reported a $5.7-billion loss in the second quarter compared to a $1.4 billion profit a year earlier, has cut in half to 500 the number of flights it was planning to add to its schedule next month. Sales for the quarter were 88 percent less than those of a year earlier. The nascent recovery in air travel seen in May and June has stalled, said Delta CEO Ed Bastian, adding the airline’s schedule in September will be about 25 percent of what it was a year previous. Delta will continue to leave middle seats empty on its flights to maintain social distances. The empty seat will limit flights to about 60 percent of capacity. Delta had profited in recent years by offering amenities to business and premium travelers and charging them higher fares. These customers, which accounted for half of Delta’s ticket sales, were among the first to disappear when the pandemic struck.

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Bastian has said he thinks the airline industry’s sustainable recovery is at least two years away and business travel will never return to pre-pandemic levels. Delta said that 17,000 employees have left the company voluntarily. American Airlines has notified 25,000 workers their jobs may end when federal subsidies expire on 1 October. AIRLINES SHED WORKERS BY THE THOUSANDS. About 28 percent of Southwest Airlines’ employees have volunteered to take long, unpaid leaves or early retirement buyouts. About 4,400 accepted buyouts; roughly 12,500 agreed to take extended time off. Delta Airlines reported that 2,235 workers had accepted early retirement packages by the 21 July deadline. One plan gives pilots partial salaries for three years and continues health care coverage. Delta also has asked pilots to cut their hours by 15 percent, which would forestall mandatory layoffs for a year, the airline said. Other carriers report thousands of employees are accepting early retirement packages or volunteering to take open-ended, unpaid leaves. VIRGIN ATLANTIC ASSEMBLES £1.2-BILLION BAILOUT. After months of negotiations with shareholders and private investors, airline Virgin Atlantic has put together a £1.2-billion plan that will sustain it for five years as it works its way back to sustainability, the company said. Over the next 18 months, Virgin will receive a £170-million loan from Davidson Kempner Capital Management, a U.S. hedge fund, and a £200-million cash infusion from the Virgin Group, the airline’s parent company. Delta Airlines, which owns 49 percent of the carrier, and other stockholders will forego £400 million in payments; creditors will defer $450 million in payments due. As part of the agreement, Virgin will fire 3,550 workers. Virgin Atlantic expects that the deal will help it return to profitability in 2022.

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United Airlines reported today their revenue plunged 87 percent in the three months ending June 30 compared to the same time last year, racking up a $1.63 billion loss for the second quarter. TREND FORECAST: The airline industry is not expected to rebound until 2023 at the earliest. As we have noted, with more people working from home and meetings online becoming the new ABnormal, business travel, which accounts for 75 percent of airline profits, will not rebound to previous heights. Moreover, with strict regulations on capacity limitations and social distancing requirements, professional/business conventions and trade shows will suffer sharp attendance declines when they are allowed to reopen, further diminishing air travel. However, if society buys into, and becomes injected with a COVID vaccine, it will free more who fear catching the disease on an airline or in a hotel room, to travel. GLOBAL ECONOMIC OVERVIEW

FRANCE ADDS €100 BILLION TO BAILOUT PLAN. French president François Macron, often criticized as the “president of the rich,” has announced the addition of €100 million to his country’s economic rescue plan, in part to aid the expected one million French workers who will be jobless by 2021 and deal with the country’s worst recession since World War II.

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Macron, up for re-election in 2022, has loosened rules governing the labor market, sparking union protests. He also has vowed to reopen negotiations with labor groups over his plan to reform the nation’s lavish pension system. CHINA’S STOCK MARKET LEADS OTHERS DOWN. China’s CSI 300 stock index had its worst day last week since February, dropping 4.8 percent and dragging down the U.S. Dow and NASDAQ markets. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng market fell 2 percent. The renminbi, China’s currency, also had weakened. Offshore investors cashed out of Chinese stocks in the benchmark CSI 300 index at a record pace, selling $2.6 billion worth of shares and bringing the market down 2.5 percent at one point before it closed the day with a 1-percent loss. The sell-off followed a week during which the same market made its best gains in five years, rising 17 percent overall so far this year. The rise was fueled significantly by $19.2 billion invested by foreigners during the second quarter, the second-highest quarterly inflow on record. Foreign investors can buy Chinese stocks through a formal program that accepts funds through Hong Kong. The sharp sell-off was due to investors taking profits, not losing confidence in the market, many analysts said. FOREIGN INVESTORS TAKE STOCK MARKET PROFITS. On 14 July, offshore investors cashed out of Chinese stocks in the benchmark CSI 300 index at a record pace, selling $2.6 billion worth of shares and bringing the market down 2.5 percent at one point before it closed the day with a 1-percent loss. The sell-off followed a week during which the same market made its best gains in five years, rising 17 percent overall so far this year. The rise was fueled significantly by $19.2 billion invested by foreigners during the second quarter, the second-highest quarterly inflow on record. Foreign investors can buy Chinese stocks through a formal program that accepts funds through Hong Kong.

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The sharp sell-off was due to investors taking profits, not losing confidence in the market, many analysts said. SINGAPORE ENTERS RECESSION. Singapore, the island bastion of free enterprise, reported a 41.2-percent drop in its GDP for 2020’s second quarter, throwing the nation into recession for the first time in a dozen years. The contraction, Singapore’s biggest month-on-month loss ever, followed a 3.3-percent decline in the first quarter. The figures add up to a 12.6-percent year-on-year contraction in the island’s GDP, the largest since 1965. Singapore recorded among the highest per-capita COVID infection rates in Asia and imposed a strict lockdown that was lifted in early June. Analysts expect the nation’s economy to recover quickly, in part because of a government stimulus initiative equivalent to about US$70 billion or 20 percent of GDP. JAPAN CUTS 2020 ECONOMIC FORECAST. At its meeting on 15 July, the Bank of Japan lowered its forecast for the country’s economy this year. In April, the bank foresaw GDP contracting by 3 to 5 percent by March 2021; it now expects the loss to be 4.5 to 5.7 percent. The bank left its benchmark interest rate unchanged at -0.1 percent. U.K. DOWN, GOING OUT. In May, Britain’s economy grew just 1.8 percent above April’s, the month that saw the U.K.’s GDP shrink a record amount. The kingdom’s economy remains about 25 percent smaller than it was in February. May’s performance was weaker than analysts had expected. TREND FORECAST: What has occurred and is occurring around the world, much of which has, and continues to be locked down with draconian restrictions, is unprecedented in world history. To summarize, yes, there will be artificial economic rebounds as a result of massive money pumping schemes, which in turn are ballooning nations’ debt levels.

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When the money-high wears off, as economies dramatically slump and equity markets crash, the reality of the severe damage inflicted by politicians on their nations will become reality. New political parties will be formed, riots, protests and demonstrations will accelerate, civil and regional wars will erupt, and the impact of the “Greatest Depression” will take its toll. Prepare now to Prevail and Prosper in the increasingly difficult times ahead. TRENDS IN THE MARKETS by Gregory Mannarino THE ENGINEERED EXTINCTION OF THE USD

The U.S. dollar, in its current form, is going the way of the Dodo bird. Today, there exists 1.93 trillion of actual, physical printed dollars. This 1.93 trillion can verified on the Federal Reserve’s website. The remainder of U.S. dollars, numbering in the quadrillions (if you were to count dollar derivatives), do not exist – they appear on a computer screen in digital form only. In other words, they are not real. The end game for the U.S. dollar in its present form is well underway, with the next phase being a 100 percent digital, blockchain based system.

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The current fiat dollar system has run its course, and, at this time, the Federal Reserve is in the process of burning up as much of the dollar, again in its current form, as they possibly can. Never before in financial history has a central bank embarked on more massive, record-shattering binge of debt issuance and asset purchases. Moreover, we have politicians, right up to the President of the United States, calling on the Fed to issue even more debt – in the form of trillions in economic stimulus and outright debt purchases – to keep the suppressed-rate environment going. The current Scamdemic was, and is by design, a deliberate, well-thought-out and executed plan to shut down the global economy for one reason: to kill the money velocity. “Money velocity” is the rate at which cash moves, or changes hands, in an economy. By killing the money velocity, it allows the Federal Reserve to print, create, and add to a digital screen any amount of capital/cash they desire, which they can then use to issue more debt and buy more assets. Because there is no money velocity, which they killed by design, the global economy stops. Therefore, despite epic creation of cash out of thin air, there is no chance of creating inflation at this time. Since the Federal Reserve’s creation in 1913, its grand plan has been to be the lender, buyer, and, therefore, the owner of everything, using a product they alone have complete control over: the U.S. dollar. Today, the U.S. dollar is the world reserve currency. This gives the Fed more power than any other organization on the planet. Being the world reserve currency creates an ever-increasing demand for dollars via the petrodollar system. OPEC nations have agreed to price their oil in U.S. dollars for guaranteed U.S. military protection of their oil. And OPEC pricing their oil in U.S. dollars demands that any nation wishing to buy oil must first convert their currency to U.S. dollars, thereby creating massive dollar demand. This system is not going anywhere, as it is guaranteed by the military might of the United States. What will be going away, however, is the U.S. dollar in its current form… and sooner than many might think. There will come a time when you can show your

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grandchildren paper “money” and say, “Back in the day, we used these to buy things.” A full-on, blockchain based dollar gives the Federal Reserve absolute control over its currency and transactions. Every single transaction can be – and will be – closely monitored. Being that 99 percent of currency already is not on the elemental chart, (meaning it exists in digital form only), makes the change to a blockchain based, all-digital dollar as easy as flipping a switch. The good news with all this is straightforward. In whatever form they want to create currency, it will not change the fact that physical gold and silver will stay real money. Everything else will remain credit; credit as in a “credit card” will also be debt. So, what’s the bottom line? They will play their game, and we will play ours. We know their game, which makes our counter-game simple. We can bet against any debt-based system by holding an anti-debt unit, for which both gold and silver are anti-debt units. Understand, the debt-based system is not going away because it gives central banks all their power. Being that none of our world leaders have the guts, nor the power, to stop their central bank from issuing more debt, the situation will get much worse. And then… in a poof… our U.S. greenbacks will be gone.

Traderschoice.net

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URBAN SURVIVAL by Bradley J. Steiner HOW TO PROTECT YOUR FUTURE

As reported in the article “GUN SALES SHOOTING UP” in this week’s Trends Journal, owning a gun in the United States is a strong and growing trend. Gun sales in the USA are going through the roof. With people fearful that an economically locked-down society coupled with a rise in protests, many of which are violent, will devolve the nation into more crime and violence. According to the FBI, background check requests for firearms went up 136 percent compared to a year ago. It’s easy to think that survival during chaotic, turbulent times (in an urban or any other setting) is primarily a matter of obtaining and being ready to use firearms. The truth, however, is that while firearms and the ability to use them, if necessary, are a part of total preparedness, they are only a part. You cannot eat firearms or ammunition, nor can you use them to stay warm in freezing cold weather. You can’t use them to supply yourself and your family with drinking water, money to spend on necessities, or a dozen other things that, until or unless a lethally dangerous situation arises you cannot avoid, are all infinitely more important than guns and ammo. Should Tyranny and Repression Strike My view is that certain skills of a unique kind are far more important than most people realize. Skills that enable you to live quietly without attracting attention

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and enable you to take care of yourself and your family without conflicts and controversy. So, what kinds of skills permit this? Perhaps the best that can be had are those intelligence agencies impart to operatives within their ranks who are going to work in what in the business calls a “denied area.” A denied area is a place where, if the operative is noticed, investigated, and apprehended, he may find himself facing 20 or more years in a horrific prison. Or, he may find himself standing before a firing squad or climbing the steps to a hangman’s noose. In short, the intelligence officer who works in a denied area is working in an environment where he is unwelcome and regarded as a very serious criminal. His mission will be to carry out important work for his agency that is illegal in that country, while appearing to be a harmless, uninteresting, everyday person who hardly bears paying much attention to. Notice, please, that this is very similar to how you, whether living alone or with loved ones, will need to live if and when tyranny and repression truly become the new ABnormal, and you are obliged to remain where you now reside. First, you do not want to attract undo attention to yourself. You do not want to associate yourself among those considered to have any radical (or even unusual or “interesting”) convictions – be it at work, school, or even living in the same neighborhood. Since you do not know who might hear your conversations or those who have heard you previously talk about what you believe in, you’ll want to be uninteresting and essentially noncontroversial in every way. Remember, we are speaking of a time when, at least for the nonce, the “bad guys” have won. Dialog, discussions, and meetings in which lectures and speeches are made about how the evil that is “coming” may be fought, etc., are no longer sensible or possible without the certainty of arrest and severe curtailment of whatever self-serving survival actions may be possible if you remain anonymous. If, at some future date, you are a part of any resistance or survival group, absolute, shut-mouth secrecy about it is the first rule for all who may be

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involved. You do not exist. So, just as the secret agent who works for an intelligence agency must appear, while residing and operating in a denied area, to be a person of no particular interest or concern, so, too, you must be. Serious counseling of your family members must enjoin them to cooperate 100 percent in this regard. Second, just as the intelligence officer must never fail to carry out his essential assignment, so must you and your family continue without being obvious, conspicuous, noticeable, or controversial to work continuously for your mutual well-being, survival, protection, and long-term self-interest. This is, for instance, exactly what you would need to do if you were living today in Mainland China or Russia. Do not believe the conditions in those totalitarian countries “cannot happen here.” In fact, may God help us, some of those conditions already are starting to happen in the U.S. If the forces of evil keep wining, it is up us to work hard and pray hard they do not. Open defiance and moronic bravado simply will serve to insure your destruction. The basic rule of guerrilla warfare: Never go head-to-head with a stronger enemy. Israel’s Secret Service, the Mossad, hold as their motto: “By means of deception, thou shalt do war.” Keep that in mind. A real Special Forces soldier or CIA operative in the clandestine services wouldn’t and couldn’t take on a police department armed with the knowledge of hand-to-hand combat and possession of a knife, as we saw Stallone do in “Rambo.” In the real world, subterfuge, guile, clandestinity, and secret warfare are what the professionals employ… and are what they’re all about. Let me tell you now about some excellent tactics that were used by our enemies during the Cold War. Evil is not synonymous with stupid; and, believe me, the Russian intelligence machinery was not then and is not now anything less than very competent. And, as with most intelligence, they are terrifyingly ruthless. When Russian agents were able to recruit those whom they referred to as “fellow travellers” in the West, to work for the Soviet cause, here is the first order of instruction these individuals received:

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• Cancel all subscriptions to any left-leaning publications,

• Leave any clubs, groups, organizations, or circles of friends who are communist sympathizers,

• Never express a single sentiment favorable to the socialist cause. In fact,

speak out (if you speak at all) vehemently against socialism.

• As far as everyone around you/associated with you/or in any way in communication with you is able to tell, become a lover of the American way of life and an enemy of Soviet communist ideology.

Contrast this with how Americans traditionally have always been: Up front with our patriotism; speaking out loud for our love of country and our belief in liberty and free enterprise. Americans need to learn to be devious and deceptive. In secret intelligence work, this is, of course, standard operating procedure. That is why I say we must look to the skills of the spy, if you will, and adopt his tactics and methods if and when we find ourselves dealing with conditions of overwhelming oppression. HARDCORE STUFF

I learned many different skills and aspects of that which is popularly referred to as “tradecraft,” which I teach in addition to armed and unarmed self-defense. The following may not be palatable to you, and if at first glance it turns you off, please pass it over. I must, however, in good conscience tell you that much of which may seem to be “too extreme” and “excessive” now may someday be skills you wish you had acquired. Three subjects I recommend be studied:

1. Urban Escape and Evasion 2. Underground Organization and Resistance 3. Clandestine Operational Skills

1. Urban Escape and Evasion – key points:

• How to escape from captivity • Thwarting kidnap and isolation control

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• Dealing skillfully with your captors: deceiving them/planning for escape/undertaking escape

• Surviving temporarily as a prisoner • Evading pursuers • Using hides and making use of opportunities for concealment and evasion

of your pursuers in the urban setting 2. Underground Organization and Resistance For this, I suggest you obtain, read, and study the following books:

• Human Factors Considerations of Undergrounds in Insurgencies by Andrew Molnar. This book contains, almost verbatim, the entire course in the mechanics of unconventional warfare that is taught at the John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School (the training school of the U.S. Army’s “Special Forces”).

• Resistance to Tyranny by Joseph P. Martino. A comprehensive primer on

exactly what the title says.

• Secret Forces by Ferdinand O. Miksche. A classic on guerrilla warfare and the use of small forces to overcome larger forces.

Clandestine Operational Skills – key points:

• Methods of disguise • How to lie effectively • How to discover surveillance • Evading foot and vehicle surveillance • Avoiding determined pursuers • Resisting interrogation • High performance driving • Secret methods of communicating and meeting • Safe houses • How to make and use one-time pads for secret written messages • Escape networks • Use of dead drops and accommodation addresses • How to secure a hotel or motel room when traveling

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A smart warrior knows not only when to do battle, but also when not to do battle. Integral to that which is referred to as the “tradecraft” of secret intelligence work is training in what is known as the “Gray Man Theory.” This means being neither black nor white, if either would distinguish and label you as conspicuous in your leanings. Gray is innocuous, nothing special, ordinary, like everyone else… it’s no threat to any part of the established regime or the popular beliefs of whatever idiots may exist around you. (I know this may be distasteful.) If you are a lover of the America that was bequeathed to us by our Nation’s Founders, as I assume those who read the Trends Journal are, then part of you must be screaming, “Dammit, I am not going to pretend I believe in this crap we’re being buried in! I’m going to speak up! I’m going to fight back!” Well, all I can tell you is that such an attitude prompting such behavior if and when, as I said, the “bad guys” win and you are living in a major city with no option to leave, will only get you into hot water… and fast! You will make no headway, achieve no real gains, and accomplish only your own imprisonment. Realize, as Dr. David Seabury once wrote, “The more unusual the problem, the more unusual must be the solution.” America is facing a highly unusual problem: betrayal from within and abandonment of recognition of the very law of the land. As Judge Andrew Napolitano made clear in his speech at Gerald Celente’s “Unite for Peace and Restore Freedom” 4th of July Rally, there has been an abandonment of the Constitution and Bill of Rights. The world is now on its head, and a lot of power-lusting, wealthy psychopaths across the globe are hellbent on tipping over their nations as well. And, as it appears, they seem to be succeeding. If they do, and if you and your loved ones find yourselves trapped (let us hope not permanently) within the confines of, say, New York, Los Angeles, London, Paris, Mumbai, Beijing, or wherever, then the tactics I am describing can be your means of staying free of the clutches of whatever destructive powers may then reign.

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Also, they may enable you, and all of us, to one day reacquire the grandeur, glory, benevolence, and the civilized society of the America we once loved. Disclaimer: Neither the author, Gerald Celente, the Trends Journal, nor any of their heirs or assigns advocates or condones any breaking of any laws or antisocial conduct. This article is offered for informational purposes only. TRENDS-EYE VIEW GUN SALES SHOOTING UP

When nations and states began locking down in March, we forecast crime would steadily rise. As Gerald Celente notes, “When people lose everything and have nothing left to lose, they lose it.” And, now, people across the nation and around the world who have lost their livelihoods are losing their lives. In New York City, there have been over 400 shootings since the start of the year, and deaths from gunshots are up over 60 percent as of 14 July compared to last year. Over the weekend of the 4th of July, 44 people were shot, with ten of them killed. Self-Protection

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According to FBI data, in March, a record was set for the most background checks requested for gun purchases since the system was set up 20 years ago. The FBI received 9.7 million background check requests compared to just over seven million during the same period a year ago. In June alone, background checks for firearms went up 136 percent compared to a year ago. TRENDPOST: In presidential election years, one subject that had been a major campaign issue in the United States was gun control. Not this time! In fact, even in what are considered “liberal” Democratic states, there is no political opposition to the soaring gun sales trend. GEOPOLITICS LIBYA CONFLICT HEATING UP

Libya is in rubble and ruin, and wracked by civil war. It wasn’t always like that. Before it was destroyed by the Libyan War, launched in 2011 by U.S. President Barack Obama, French President Nicholas Sarkozy, and Prime Minister of England David Cameron, it was the most prosperous nation in Africa.

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The nation’s infrastructure, which was one of the most advanced in the region, was severely damaged by the U.S.-led NATO bombing campaign. Sitting on the world’s ninth largest oil reserves and also rich in mineral deposits, Libya’s strategically long Mediterranean coastline has long been a key target for foreign interests… and it still is. Bad Times Getting Worse Since 2014, the country has been divided between the Government of National Accord (GNA), endorsed by the United Nations as the legitimate government, and the Libyan National Army (LNA) rebel faction in the eastern part of the country led by former CIA operative Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar. While the GNA’s ruling government in Tripoli primarily is backed by Turkey, which has an agreement to extract some of the country’s oil reserves, the rebel factions have the support of Russia, Egypt, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). As for the United States, while President Trump initially stated in 2017 that he was not going to get involved, in April of last year, it was revealed he had a phone conversation with Haftar and later commended his “significant role in fighting terrorism and securing Libya's oil resources.” Over the past months, Field Marshal Haftar’s forces have failed to successfully take over the capital, pushed back by the GNA with substantial military aid from Turkey. The Heat Is Turned Up Last month, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi issued a threat to deploy military forces into Libya if the GNA tries to seize the Mediterranean port city of Sirte, an important strategic gateway to oil reserves that is now controlled by the LNA. In a statement released last week, the LNA accused Turkey of trying to occupy its territory. Over the past few weeks, Turkey has supported GNA forces against Field Marshall Haftar, including air power, ground weapons, and troops from Syria. Last Wednesday, after appearing publicly with Egyptian President al-Sisi, Haftar raised the stakes in the ongoing Libyan conflict when he stated he would “welcome” the Egyptian military to intervene on his faction’s behalf.

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Last Friday, Tukey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan condemned UAE backing of Haftar’s forces as “piratical,” and that “steps taken by Egypt here, especially their siding with the putschist Haftar, show they are in an illegal process.” As previously reported in the Trends Journal, on 19 January of this year, a global summit was held in Germany in which major world leaders agreed to cease supplying weapons to the warring parties in Libya. That pledge was quickly broken. Since the global summit, the geopolitical situation has become more dangerous. Last Wednesday, U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres warned the Libyan situation had entered a new phase “with foreign interference reaching unprecedented levels.” TREND FORECAST: As we go to press, it is reported that GNA troops are moving closer to Sirte in an effort to take over Libya’s main oil terminals. Absent in the news is the fact that U.S.-led and supported wars against Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Yemen, etc., primarily are responsible for the flood of refugees into Europe who are fleeing to escape the pillage and carnage that has devastated their nations. PUBLISHER’S NOTE: Also absent in mainstream media coverage is that prior to the French, U.K., and U.S.-led overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi, Libya’s GDP per capita and life expectancy were the highest on the continent. Unlike today, with the nation ravaged in destruction, before Gaddafi was murdered, fewer citizens lived below the poverty line than in the Netherlands, and they had free healthcare, free education, free electricity, and interest-free loans. But now, when writing about the war-torn, oil-rich country, newspapers such as the New York Times ignore the fact that life was much better for Libyans under Gaddafi’s rule and, instead, refer to what’s going on as a “nasty civil war,” and “a mess”… never mentioning those, such as their beloved Barack Obama, who created it.

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IRAN & VENEZUELA: IS WAR INEVITABLE?

Before the COVID-19 pandemic dominated headlines and the 24/7 news cycle, the Trends Journal had been continuously reporting on overt U.S. efforts to overthrow the ruling governments of Iran and Venezuela. As Gerald Celente has said many times, “When all else fails, they take you to war.” IRAN Recently, there have been dozens mysterious fires and explosions in Iran, for which Iranian officials have blamed the U.S. and its Mideast ally Israel. A week ago, a petrochemical facility in Khuzestan Province caught fire, and, last Tuesday, a fire broke out at an aluminum factory in Lamerd in southern Iran. Last Wednesday, a huge fire burned seven Iranian ships in the port city of Bushehr. This follows a pattern over the last three months as a number of military and nuclear facilities have been set on fire. Two weeks ago, the country’s largest nuclear facility in Natanz was the scene of a large explosion. Some Iranian officials blamed Israel, while others cited weather and malfunctioning equipment as possible causes. In addition to the U.S. and Israel, some analysts surmise that internal anti-government groups are responsible. “There is a belief that those who want regime change in Iran are throwing everything they have at Iran to see which one would stick,” said Foad Izadi, a political analyst in Tehran.

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In addition to the firestorms at military and industrial facilities, over 1,000 forest fires have erupted over the past three months. Some suspect arson. Venezuela On 11 July, President Trump sought to rally support from southern Florida’s Latin American voters stating, “Something will happen with Venezuela. That’s all I can tell you.” President Trump added that Washington “will be very much involved.” Two days later, U.S. Special Representative for Venezuela, Elliott Abrams, revealed additional sanctions on Venezuela. The country is already suffering from the long list of previous U.S.-led sanctions, as well as the new sanctions on any company which tries to import any goods through the blockade. Mr. Abrams stated, “There are people who don’t cooperate… We’ll go after the ship, the ship owner, the ship captain.” This follows the extensive U.S. policy aimed at ousting the democratically-elected president Nicolás Maduro and the installment of his political adversary Juan Guaidó. TRENDPOST: While Juan Guaidó has made extensive trips to foreign countries seeking support as the country’s legitimate ruler, a recent poll reveals only three percent of Venezuelan citizens support his position. Over 80 percent responded that Guaidó’s party lacked any credibility. Furthermore, the U.S. sanctions are responsible for the devastation of the country’s economy and the death of tens of thousands. The sanctions have been condemned by the United Nations as “crimes against humanity.” And it’s not just President Trump responsible for the extensive humanitarian crises. In 2015, President Barack Obama declared a national emergency due to Venezuela’s “unusual and extraordinary threat” to the United States. Additionally, current presidential candidate Joe Biden has joined the chorus calling for regime change, stating, “It’s time for free and fair elections so that the Venezuelan people can turn the page on the corrupt and repressive Maduro regime. I will stand with the Venezuelan people and for democracy.”

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As with President Trump… and the western media, Mr. Biden ignores the fact that President Maduro’s 2018 election victory was certified as fair and legitimate by international observers. HI-TECH SCIENCE by Bennett Davis NEW MOLECULE TAKES THE HIGH OUT OF METH AND COCAINE

Scientists led by a Duke University research team have created a new molecule that weakens the high that cocaine and methamphetamines deliver to the brain. The molecule is a neurotensin, a kind of protein that moderates reward-seeking behaviors and has been known to reduce food- and drug-seeking in mice. Using a neurotensin to curb drug addiction isn’t a new idea. But previous attempts have resulted in concoctions that slow blood pressure and drop body temperatures to dangerous levels and also impair physical coordination. The new molecule, known as SBI-553, causes fewer and less severe side effects. In tests, mice were treated with SBI-553 and then allowed to ingest either cocaine or methamphetamine. The new molecule calmed the usual hyperactivity

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that results from drug use and dulled the brain’s pleasure centers that the narcotics activate. After 20 minutes to an hour, the treated mice were given access to more coke and meth but voluntarily reduced their intake by about 80 percent and showed none of neurotensins’ usual side effects. TRENDPOST: This new therapeutic molecule moves the issue of drug addiction closer to being understood and treated as a manageable, or even curable, condition instead of as a moral failing or a crime. CONGRESS OFFERS PLAN TO REMAKE NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION

by Bennett Davis The National Science Foundation will be renamed, given an additional $100 billion over five years, and charged with maintaining the U.S. leadership in global technological innovation under a bipartisan bill introduced in the Senate and House of Representatives. The proposal also would alter the foundation’s mission from pure research alone to add a new emphasis on research that produces practical results on a timetable. The Senate bill, called the Endless Frontiers Act, would rename the NSF as the National Science and Technology Foundation and create within it a technology directorate with its own director. The directors of the research and technology

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divisions would report to a single director, who could align the work of the two operations. Much of the new foundation’s $100-million windfall would be distributed among university-based technology centers pursuing basic research in key areas. The centers would use some of the money to develop and test new products and processes that could eventually be commercialized. In addition, the legislation would authorize the U.S. commerce department to invest in 10 to 15 new technology hubs that would be located outside current tech centers such as Boston or Silicon Valley. The bill also calls for new investments in education, training, and understanding the social and ethical implications of new technologies. Many in the scientific and technical community have praised the plan’s boldness and vision; others worry that tasking the foundation with invention on a schedule would erode the culture of curiosity-driven research that has led to past breakthroughs. “NSF is the only place in the federal government tasked with promoting the progress of science, and you have to be careful when you mess with that,” says former NSF director Neil Lane. “But this bill makes clear that it’s time for bold action, and there’s not a moment to lose.” TRENDPOST: Placing leadership and funding of technological development in a government agency reverses decades of conservative opposition to the idea of an “industrial policy,” in which the federal government picks “winners and losers” among innovative ideas. However, because of the central place technological innovation will hold in the U.S. and global economy’s future – and because of China’s swiftly rising eminence as a locus of technological innovation, this legislation – or, at least, key provisions in it – is almost certain to become law and recast the National Science Foundation as a national driving intelligence of the technical economy.

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NEW TECHNOLOGY TO RECHARGE EVs ON THE MOVE

Engineers at Stanford University have created a way to recharge electric vehicles wirelessly as they move that carries an efficiency of 92 percent, up from 10 percent that previous methods achieved. Recharging an electric vehicle wirelessly involves creating a magnetic field that activates magnetic coils in the vehicle. But that only works if the frequency of the field stays the same. In practical terms, that means the distance between the energy-sending and energy-receiving points has to stay the same – the vehicle can’t move. The Stanford group has built a feedback loop into the recharging system that maintains the right frequency as the distance between the vehicle and the energy-sending point changes. The key is using a “switch mode amplifier,” a fussy piece of equipment that produces frequencies at high efficiency only under very precise conditions. The researchers invested more than two years of trials to get it right. Sending the energy takes a few thousandths of a second, only a fraction of the time a vehicle traveling at 70 mph would take to cross a four-foot charging plate, the researchers say. The technology also could easily be scaled up to meet the demands of highway travel. The system won’t be commercialized for years, however, as roadway infrastructure would need to be built. That is likely to happen gradually as

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sections of existing highway are repaved or refurbished after the technology has passed full-scale tests. Meanwhile, the system can be used to continuously recharge robots shuttling around factor floors or drones that could swoop down, hover over a charging plate for a few seconds, and then fly off to make their next Amazon delivery. TRENDPOST: A wireless technology that charges moving EVs is likely to be practical only after EVs have gained a large enough market share to force governments’ road departments to make the investment. That puts the technology’s deployment at some time after 2030. When that happens, the last vestiges of corner gas stations or their descendant public fuel stops will disappear within a few years.